Age Stereotypes in Younger and Older Women: Analyses of Accommodative Shifts with a Sentence-Priming Task

Abstract Background: Older adults' cognitive abilities can be impaired through priming of negative age stereotypes. However, it is unclear whether the effects of negative priming can be extended to episodic memory, which is believed to be the most age-sensitive type among the long-term memory systems, in Asian populations. Social participation has recently emerged as a potential protective factor for maintaining the cognitive function of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory and the moderating role of social participation in the priming effect.Methods: A total of 105 community-dwelling older adults residing in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions. Participants were primed either with negative age stereotype words (n = 53) or neutral words (n = 52) using an implicit priming task. Episodic memory performance was assessed using the Hong Kong List Learning Task (HKLLT), which includes total learning, two delayed recalls and a recognition task. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess group differences in the priming task and memory performance, while a series of moderation analyses were performed to examine the moderating effects of social participation.Results: The group that received negative age stereotype priming performed significantly worse than the group that received neutral words in their episodic memory test. Additional analyses showed that socially active individuals might be less prone to the effects of negative age stereotypes for the recognition task only.Conclusions: Older adults who are more socially active might be more immune to the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory. These results provide initial support for the hypothesis that social participation might act as an effective strategy to ward against negative age stereotype priming.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04202120 (first posted December 17, 2019), (Retrospectively registered)

Download Full-text

Age, stereotypes, and nutritional supplements use among middle age and older women

Journal of Women & Aging ◽

10.1080/08952841.2021.1991193 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

G. ‘Chuck’ Rainville ◽

Leanne J. Clark-Shirley

Keyword(s):

Older Women ◽

Middle Age ◽

Nutritional Supplements ◽

Age Stereotypes

Download Full-text

The detrimental impacts of negative age stereotypes on the episodic memory of older adults: does social participation moderate the effects?

BMC Geriatrics ◽

10.1186/s12877-020-01833-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Stephen C. Y. Chan ◽

Alma M. L. Au ◽

Simon M. K. Lai

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Social Participation ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Age Stereotypes ◽

Priming Task ◽

Stereotype Priming

Abstract Background Older adults’ cognitive abilities can be impaired through priming of negative age stereotypes. However, it is unclear whether the effects of negative priming can be extended to episodic memory, which is believed to be the most age-sensitive type among the long-term memory systems, in Asian populations. Social participation has recently emerged as a potential protective factor for maintaining the cognitive function of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory and the moderating role of social participation in the priming effect. Methods A total of 105 community-dwelling older adults residing in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions. Participants were primed either with negative age stereotype words (n = 53) or neutral words (n = 52) using an implicit priming task. Episodic memory performance was assessed using the Hong Kong List Learning Task (HKLLT), which includes total learning, two delayed recalls and a recognition task. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess group differences in the priming task and memory performance, while a series of moderation analyses were performed to examine the moderating effects of social participation. Results The group that received negative age stereotype priming performed significantly worse than the group that received neutral words in their episodic memory test. Additional analyses showed that socially active individuals might be less prone to the effects of negative age stereotypes for the recognition task only. Conclusions Older adults who are more socially active might be more immune to the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory. These results provide initial support for the hypothesis that social participation might act as an effective strategy to ward against negative age stereotype priming. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04202120 (first posted December 17, 2019), (Retrospectively registered).

Download Full-text

The Detrimental Impacts of Negative Age Stereotype on Episodic Memory of Older Adults: Does Social Participation Moderate the Effects?

10.21203/rs.2.20840/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen Cheong Yu Chan ◽

Alma May Lan Au ◽

Simon Man Kin Lai

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Social Participation ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Control Group ◽

Age Stereotypes ◽

Priming Task

Abstract Background: Memory performance among older adults can be influenced by negative age stereotypes. However, it is not clear if this effect influence episodic memory in an Asian sample. Furthermore, social participation has emerged as a potential protective factor for memory function as older adults could maintain or enrich cognitive functions when they are exposed to cognitively demanding environment. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of negative age stereotype primes on episodic memory and the moderating role of social participation on the priming effect.Methods: A total of 105 community-dwelling older adults residing in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions. Participants were primed either with negative age stereotype words (n = 53) or neutral words (n = 52) by an implicit priming task. Episodic memory performance including total learning, two delayed recalls and a recognition task was investigated after the priming task. Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) was used to test group differences in priming task and memory performance while a series of moderation analyses was performed to examine if social participation could moderate the priming effect.Results: Results indicated that experimental group performed significantly worse than the control group among all measures in the memory performances. Follow-up analyses showed that socially active individuals might be less prone to the effects of negative age stereotypes in the recognition task.Conclusions: Using a simple scale to measure social participation, we found that older adults who are more socially active might be more immune to the effects of negative age stereotype primes on episodic memory. These results provide initial support for social participation might act as an effective strategy against negative age stereotypes. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04202120 (first posted December 17, 2019), (Retrospectively registered)

Download Full-text

The Detrimental Impacts of Negative Age Stereotype on Episodic Memory of Older Adults: Does Social Participation Moderate the Effects?

10.21203/rs.2.20840/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen Cheong Yu Chan ◽

Alma May Lan Au ◽

Simon Man Kin Lai

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Social Participation ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Age Stereotypes ◽

Priming Task ◽

Stereotype Priming

Abstract Background: Older adults' cognitive abilities can be impaired through priming of negative age stereotypes. However, it is unclear whether the effects of negative priming can be extended to episodic memory, which is believed to be the most age-sensitive type among the long-term memory systems, in Asian populations. Social participation has recently emerged as a potential protective factor for maintaining the cognitive function of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory and the moderating role of social participation in the priming effect.Methods: A total of 105 community-dwelling older adults residing in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions. Participants were primed either with negative age stereotype words (n = 53) or neutral words (n = 52) using an implicit priming task. Episodic memory performance was assessed using the Hong Kong List Learning Task (HKLLT), which includes total learning, two delayed recalls and a recognition task. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess group differences in the priming task and memory performance, while a series of moderation analyses were performed to examine the moderating effects of social participation.Results: The group that received negative age stereotype priming performed significantly worse than the group that received neutral words in their episodic memory test. Additional analyses showed that socially active individuals might be less prone to the effects of negative age stereotypes for the recognition task only.Conclusions: Older adults who are more socially active might be more immune to the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory. These results provide initial support for the hypothesis that social participation might act as an effective strategy to ward against negative age stereotype priming. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04202120 (first posted December 17, 2019), (Retrospectively registered)

Download Full-text

Age Stereotypes in Younger and Older Women: Analyses of Accommodative Shifts with a Sentence-Priming Task

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027//1618-3169.50.1.16 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 16-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Dirk Wentura ◽

Jochen Brandtstädter

Keyword(s):

Older Women ◽

Priming Effect ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Unrelated Word ◽

Affective Priming ◽

Decision Task ◽

Older Person ◽

Younger Women ◽

Priming Task ◽

Semantic Priming Effect

A sentence-priming technique was used to examine whether older women (N = 39) share a more positive view of aging than younger women (N = 35). Situationally specified statements about older and younger persons were presented, followed either by a semantically related word, an unrelated word of the same valence, or a nonword. The accessibility of target words was measured by reaction times in a lexical decision task. Whereas a semantic priming effect for negatively connoted materials emerged for both groups, a priming effect for positively connoted materials was found for older women only. Furthermore, an affective priming effect was found for the older group, i.e., older women tended to respond relatively faster (slower) to semantically unrelated positive (negative) words following a sentence about an older person. The results are discussed within a coping-theoretical framework.

Download Full-text